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Gaither sneaks by Hillsborough

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By RICK HARMON

Tribune correspondent

Published: April 7, 2009

TAMPA - With a double and a triple already in the scorebook, Gaither's Drew Doty was expecting off-speed and breaking pitches when he came to the plate with runners on second and third and two outs in the top of the sixth Tuesday night at the University of Tampa.

But with the count at 2-2, Doty got an inside fastball and punched it into right field to drive in the winning runs as the Cowboys defeated Hillsborough 7-6 to win the Northern division and advance to today's quarterfinals of the Saladino tournament.

"It felt good," said Doty, who finished the game 3-for-4, scoring two runs. "They were counting on me to come through in the clutch and I did. I was looking for off-speed, but he jammed me, but it blooped in. I'll take it."

Gaither (14-4) had to come from behind to earn the win. The Terriers sent 10 batters to the plate in the third, scoring four times to tie it at 4 and, after Gaither took a 5-4 lead in the top of the fifth, Hillsborough (11-8) scored twice to take a 6-5 lead.

"This was a special win," said Gaither coach Frank Permuy. "We have a very young pitching staff, and sometimes it shows. This team is one of the most resilient I've ever coached. We don't give up."

ARMWOOD 3,

SPOTO 1

Sophomore Sean Cramer, only making his second start of the season, worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning and Tyler Alexander struck out the side in the seventh to advance the Hawks to today's quarterfinals. Armwood (15-3) only had three hits but took advantage of three Spartans errors and four walks. Two of the three runs were unearned. Spoto (10-8) scored its only run in the fifth when Andrew Thomas led off with a double. One out later, he scored on a single by Ryan Koepp. Khiry Hernandez and Mike Cawthon followed with singles to load the bases but Cramer struck out the next two hitters to end the threat. Cramer finished with nine strikeouts and one walk.

WESLEY CHAPEL 5,

KING 4

The Wildcats scored the winning run with one out in the bottom of the seventh to earn their first win of the tournament. Brandon Mumaw was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the seventh for Wesley Chapel (5-14) and Matt Ganci sacrificed pinch-runner Jay Evans to second. Christian Illing struck out, but the ball went to the backstop and the throw to first was high, allowing Evans to score from second.

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